Chapter 43
Kate
“Where is Grant?” Kate asked Stefan. “The guests are arriving for the party. Grant needs to be here to greet them.”
Stefan headed upstairs to look for him.
“Perhaps he needs help dressing… oh, there you are! You look very handsome,” Stefan said to Grant.
He was wearing one of Mr. Lee’s well-tailored suits.
“No more uniform?” Kate asked him.
He smiled at her. “I’m not a marine anymore. It’s so strange.”
Kate pushed Grant out to the back terrace overlooking the garden. Waiters hovered with trays of drinks for the attendees. Grant and his father fielded congratulations and handshakes from the various important guests. Satisfied that they were able to handle themselves, Kate grabbed her own drink and went to talk to her grandmother.
“We pulled it off!” Margaret said, clinking her glass with Kate’s.
Ginny Fitzhugh and Eric Davenport arrived at that moment. Eric stayed to chat with Grant, and Ginny grabbed a drink and set off in Kate’s direction.
“How’s wedding planning?” Kate asked her.
“My planner is doing most of the work. I don’t really care about the wedding. I just want to be married.”
“That’s because you are a nice young woman who knows her priorities,” Margaret said.
“You know I’m not a big party person,” Ginny said with a giggle. “That’s Brandy.”
“I heard you’re franchising the dog-grooming business.”
“I just keep collecting her castoff projects,” Ginny said with an eye roll. “And then she gets mad at me. Now she’s trying to be an assistant. Be forewarned. Brandy is making moves on Grant. You better lock him down,” she said to Kate.
“I’m not—there’s nothing…” Kate sputtered.
“I heard you two went to that new place on the water,” Ginny said, taking one of the appetizers the waiter offered.
“It was a few friendly drinks.”
“That’s not where you take someone for friendly drinks,” Ginny said, coyly sipping her drink.
“I work for his family,” Kate said, trading out her empty glass for another cocktail from the server’s tray.
“You work for his father,” Ginny corrected, “and it hardly counts, considering we all went to the same schools. You aren’t some upstart gold digger.”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “My life is complicated right now.”
“I can’t believe you,” Ginny said, wrinkling her nose. “Between us, I don’t want Brandy to sink her claws in Grant. You know how she is. She’ll chew him up and spit him out.”
“I think he has more sense than to become involved with her,” Kate said then took a big gulp of her drink. She really needed to slow down. She hadn’t even eaten that day.
“If you break his heart, he might be so bereft that he’ll fall into the first waiting bosom.”
Her grandmother cackled. “That the first time I’ve heard that word in a while!”
“I don’t know,” Kate said. She looked at Grant wistfully. He had taken her on a date. Maybe she could give him a chance. Her phone buzzed, and her eye twitched. She finished her drink then made the rounds at the party, giving hugs and answering questions.
Kate tried to ignore her phone. She didn’t want to put it on silent in case one of the caterers was trying to contact her. It was starting to grow dark, and several fire pits were burning a sweet-smelling wood. The fairy lights in the garden came on, making the grounds look enchanted. Kate sipped on her cocktail, hoping for courage, and finally checked her messages. There were twenty from Alan, the last one being:
I’m outside the Holbrook estate.
Panicked, she half ran, half stumbled down the drive as Alan was walking up.
“What are you doing here?” she asked furiously. An underdressed couple walked past her. She thought it was odd, but she couldn’t spend any time thinking about them because Alan was here at the Holbrooks’.
“I told you I need that money.” He looked slightly disheveled, as if he hadn’t slept lately.
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“It’s at my grandmother’s house.”
“Wonderful. I’ll drive you over there.”
She didn’t want to sit in his car, but she felt as if she had no choice.
“Don’t try anything,” she said when they got to her grandmother’s house. “The maid is still here. She’s paranoid and will call the police if she sees you.” She breathed a sigh of relief as Alan waited in the car. Sneaking past Maria, Kate tiptoed upstairs, grabbed the envelope with the ten thousand dollars in cash, and hurried outside.
Alan briefly looked in the envelope then drove her back to the Holbrook estate driveway.
“Don’t take me all the way up,” she ordered.
He leered at her, and she felt his hand go up under her dress. She slapped him, but he got on top of her, pushing her back into her seat.
“Stop it!” she yelled, trying to struggle. Why had she drunk so much?
“You owe me!” he hissed.
Headlights shone into the car, and he let her push him off. She flung herself out of the car while he made a kissy face after her.
“Until next time, Kate,” he called then sped away.
Shaken, she hobbled up the drive back to the party, trying not to cry and ruin her makeup.